Long ago we discarded the build-it-yourself bookcases from furniture chains. They're chipboard covered with paper veneer and sag with only the lightest of books. Not being able to afford oak or mahogany, all our bookcases are now solid pine with shelves well over half an inch thick. Fortunately we don't have floors built from floorboards, they're solid concrete. We live in a bungalow so there's no upstairs which would be floorboards.
Many years ago, before training to be a teacher, I worked at the teacher training college annexe as a technician and library assistant. It used to be a TB hospital and consisted of a series of wooden huts on stilts with lots of windows and skylights to allow air to circulate. (Lots of fresh air, even in the coldest winter used to be the treatment TB.) The principal selected a hut to be the library, the shelves were moved in and the books stowed on the shelves. After a couple of weeks we noticed that the book trolley had a tendency to move itself to one part of the room but didn't take any real notice. The county surveyor called on a routine visit, and was apoplectic about the books being in the hut. The whole hut was sinking, and when we looked at the outside, it was plain that the floor supports between the stilts were definitely sagging. We were ordered to move the books out immediately. The surveyor pointed out to the principal just how much books weigh and that there was one hut with a concrete floor which should have been chosen as the library. It cost several thousand pounds to restore the sinking hut. Jean in Poole To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
